Aikman Observations About The Offense

cowboyed

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I think painting with too broad a brush is referencing Aikman being wrong about TE LaFleur, thereby insinuating he could be mistake prone on player personnel matters.

LaFleur had talent but he was injury prone. Back issues, groin issues, broken bones. So how about settling for Aikman not being a good chiropractor.

Sarcasm aside, I think Aikman in addition to having been a smart, professional quarterback, also does extensive research on players and coaching staff in his position as football analyst and commentator.
 
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cern

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Aikman is very driven by his contempt of jerry. Last year he talked about dak and his inaccuracy. He went on to say accuracy couldn't be taught. Now he's sidled like a crab and loves all things dak. Conveniently at a time the cowboys are having tough negotiations with dak. Aikman's personal attacks against jerry have been very public. Romo left the team with a bitter taste in his mouth. But he's refrained from making derogatory comments about the cowboys or sticking his nose into their business. He has far more class than troy and is a superior analyst.
 

Jarv

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Aikman is obviously right. No need to debate what a moron says as far as the radio guy.

Remember Beasley? His routes were basically all 7 yard ins and outs. He didn't have the speed or size to go downfield. Because of his inability to run a bunch of patterns from the slot, it took away a lot of route combinations for the entire team.

Dak lovers will enjoy this. Remember how many complained about all of Dak's short throws? Well, put a late career Witten on the field with Beasley. You had two guys who were going to go out a few yards and sit down. Teams basically could tell their safeties not to worry about half the receivers going out and just worry about the wide outs. As a result, teams could easily take away the long throws and just force Dak to dink and dunk all the way down the field.

IMO, this year is going to be sick offensively. Jarwin can run the seam. Dallas can move WR's around and put Coop or Lamb in the slot with any of them being able to get downfield. Safeties are going to have to be watching everyone which means they will make mistakes.
Great post, thanks!
 

Fastpitch Dad

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Aikman is very driven by his contempt of jerry. Last year he talked about dak and his inaccuracy. He went on to say accuracy couldn't be taught. Now he's sidled like a crab and loves all things dak. Conveniently at a time the cowboys are having tough negotiations with dak. Aikman's personal attacks against jerry have been very public. Romo left the team with a bitter taste in his mouth. But he's refrained from making derogatory comments about the cowboys or sticking his nose into their business. He has far more class than troy and is a superior analyst.
Great post, my thoughts exactly.
 

HanD

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Aikman would be a good GM for the Cowboys. I wonder if that will ever be possible after Jerry passes. I'm hoping Stephen lets the GM job go to someone that knows football outside of the Jones family.

i'd prefer to keep will mcclay personally.
 

NorthTexan95

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As a side note, one of the radio guys said he did not agree with that at all. Then went on a short litany on what he believed. He went on to say Aikman has been away from the game long enough to suggest that makes no sense.

My immediate thought was a Hall-of-Fame player at QB, who has access to offensive coordinators, and is best friends with Norv Turner surely hasn't lost a step in this game with knowledge of play calling and how team's get people open in the passing game.

That one radio guy must have been Gavin. He often takes the opposite side and often will say he's only doing it to have a discussion. I don't think in real life he would actually believe that. Cavanagh, the second guy, is all in on the three receiver set and loved the selection of Lamb. I can't see Broddaus saying that about Aikman or slot receivers.
 

JW82

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too funny....Aikman has probably forgotten more about football than whomever radio guy commentating....but the radio guys job is to create headlines.....not to analyze football....
agreed. Away from the game? Is that guy unfamiliar with Troy's job?
 

CowboysRule

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LOL...…...when Aikman was cutting Dak up during a game, he was the greatest. HOF Aikman!!!

Now that he sides with Dak and loves him as a QB the trolls don't like him anymore.
I don't think you know what a troll is. Stop trying to make every thread about Dak.
 

jterrell

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There was a discussion a few days ago that involved some comments by Aikman. I thought them to be interesting, but promptly forgot to put them here.

Aikman is a huge Mike McCarthy fan. He stated he has been for a long time. In his job he has had plenty of opportunities to be around Mike and he came away with the idea Mike is a very innovative head coach.

One of the more interesting comments he made was about offense. This was a general commentary and not necessarily about McCarthy.

Aikman said the failing of a three receiver set came down to the weaknesses in the third WR. The slot guy. He went on to explain the slot really creates opportunities for the outside guys because of how the slot creates space. The outside guys rely on the slot to move interior defenders to either open up areas for the WRs or create confusion to mix up the double team.

As a side note, one of the radio guys said he did not agree with that at all. Then went on a short litany on what he believed. He went on to say Aikman has been away from the game long enough to suggest that makes no sense.

My immediate thought was a Hall-of-Fame player at QB, who has access to offensive coordinators, and is best friends with Norv Turner surely hasn't lost a step in this game with knowledge of play calling and how team's get people open in the passing game.
I'm not sure either guy are totally wrong.

Doug Baldwin is one of the best pure slot WRs of the last decade and he echoes Troy Aikman's sentiments:
“The slot receiver’s kind of the quarterback of the receivers,” he said in 2015. “More so because the slot receiver has more responsibilities in terms of reading coverages and different adjustments based on what coverages you’re seeing. It’s a lot more complicated. … You have to know a lot more. You have to stay within the confines and the framework of the offense — you have a lot of freedom because you have a little bit more space, but at the same time, your job is usually to get someone else open, or to get open on a crucial down where it’s one-on-one. You have to be versatile, and you have to understand how your route goes into the concept, based on the different coverages you can see.”

All that said offenses have evolved even in the past 2-3 years. Now teams are moving their best players to the slot as a way to get them free releases or matched up with smaller (possibly lesser) CBs.
2018 data is known and used below....
For instance Michael Thomas who leads the NFL in productivity (and mean tweets) at the positions runs over half of his snaps from the slot.
So do Tyreek Hill, Larry Fitzgerald, Jarvis Landry, Keenan Allen, Julian Edelman, basically everyone for the Rams and well lots of guys you'd consider a WR1.

So now the slot is being used by the Chiefs, Rams, Cards and Pats to feature guys. Those are teams with innovative offensive coordinators and/or head coaches.
The slot is no longer about just holding your ground or playing a role to get open on 3rd down like Beasley did here in our dated offense.
It is about getting guys deep like Tyreek Hill.
Getting guys free releases for big plays at all levels like Michael Thomas.
It is about putting your best players in a position to succeed.

So what about Dallas..................
2018 Amari Cooper ran 30% of his routes from the slot, Michaal Gallup 15%.
Why? Dallas had a designated slot guy in Cole Beasley and they replaced him with a designated slot guy in Randall Cobb.
Beasley ran 90% of his routes out of the slot and Cobb and insane 93% in GB in 2018.
But modern offenses are changing that.
I expect MM too.
I think you'll see DAL use Cooper in the slot ~50% of the time. CeeDee also around 50%. --there will be over 100% to go around because formations will allow multiple slots on some plays.
Gallup likely stays outside as the designated WR2.
By going from Randall Cobb to Lamb to move form a guy who has trained solely as a slot to a guy who ran all 4 WR positions of the Air Raid, H(inside big/TE), Y(focal WR inside), X(lead outside WR), Z(Tall, outside big play guy)

This is exactly why I loved the CeeDee Lamb selection and would have HATED any other WR in round 1. Lamb has the ability day to play in a modern offense because they are air raid concepts that lend to slot domination.
This is also why many Air Raid teams had weak armed game readers.... No need to laser it when you are reading insider receivers being wide open 10-12 yards off the ball and inside the hashes.
BUT you take a Pat Mahomes and put him in that system and things.. CHANGE. Now your slinging it 50 air yards for fun. You are forcing teams to defend deep and play scared.
Baker Mayfield did this quite well. He is an assassin deep and very short but struggles in the old school median range. Baker killed teams with deep passes then underneath slots and crosses and WR screens of every sort.
Pat doesn't really struggle anywhere but in college had to score 50+ a week and had no OL. Tech needed him to be magic every drive so he made some mistakes on the way to the highest scoring offense virtually every year.
Dak also doesn't really struggle anywhere. He is definitely not Pat in his ease of flipping it out without form 35 yards, but he has great accuracy and arm strength on anything he gets his hips into. This is actually very much like Aikman.
Footwork was and is key for both as passers where accuracy and raw power merge.

So what might Dallas look like in 2020?
I think you'll see a varied passing attack that lines up Cooper and Lamb All Over the formation. X, Y, Z.
They can gameplan this weekly to attack defenses specific personnel and keep the looks changing on tape.

I can't remember being this excited about a Cowboys offense since the triplets ran their 5 plays taking what they wanted on the way to Super Bowls.
 

cern

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people also like to post how Jason garrett would have been a good gm. neither garrett or troy has done anything to buttress these arguments. being an ex-qb, starter or backup doesn't qualify one to be a good gm. which of them has ever written a single nfl contract?
 

starman22

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Thank you, I appreciate your counterpoint. So if you don't trust Aikman with personnel matters, is his support of Dak getting paid an example of why you feel that way?

I think the answer is in his original post.

Aikman is a beloved Cowboy but I wouldn’t trust him on personnel matters. He was David Lefleur or bust at some point.
 

cowboyed

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Aikman is very driven by his contempt of jerry. Last year he talked about dak and his inaccuracy. He went on to say accuracy couldn't be taught. Now he's sidled like a crab and loves all things dak. Conveniently at a time the cowboys are having tough negotiations with dak. Aikman's personal attacks against jerry have been very public. Romo left the team with a bitter taste in his mouth. But he's refrained from making derogatory comments about the cowboys or sticking his nose into their business. He has far more class than troy and is a superior analyst.

Cern, you are correct about what Aikman said previously about Dak's inaccuracy last year and that now he is singing Dak's praises. I am glad though that Aikman isn't so rigid in his thinking that he can't change his mind. I think Aikman is a good analyst but Romo is a great analyst on the level of John Madden.
 

ScipioCowboy

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I'm not sure either guy are totally wrong.

Doug Baldwin is one of the best pure slot WRs of the last decade and he echoes Troy Aikman's sentiments:
“The slot receiver’s kind of the quarterback of the receivers,” he said in 2015. “More so because the slot receiver has more responsibilities in terms of reading coverages and different adjustments based on what coverages you’re seeing. It’s a lot more complicated. … You have to know a lot more. You have to stay within the confines and the framework of the offense — you have a lot of freedom because you have a little bit more space, but at the same time, your job is usually to get someone else open, or to get open on a crucial down where it’s one-on-one. You have to be versatile, and you have to understand how your route goes into the concept, based on the different coverages you can see.”

All that said offenses have evolved even in the past 2-3 years. Now teams are moving their best players to the slot as a way to get them free releases or matched up with smaller (possibly lesser) CBs.
2018 data is known and used below....
For instance Michael Thomas who leads the NFL in productivity (and mean tweets) at the positions runs over half of his snaps from the slot.
So do Tyreek Hill, Larry Fitzgerald, Jarvis Landry, Keenan Allen, Julian Edelman, basically everyone for the Rams and well lots of guys you'd consider a WR1.

So now the slot is being used by the Chiefs, Rams, Cards and Pats to feature guys. Those are teams with innovative offensive coordinators and/or head coaches.
The slot is no longer about just holding your ground or playing a role to get open on 3rd down like Beasley did here in our dated offense.
It is about getting guys deep like Tyreek Hill.
Getting guys free releases for big plays at all levels like Michael Thomas.
It is about putting your best players in a position to succeed.

So what about Dallas..................
2018 Amari Cooper ran 30% of his routes from the slot, Michaal Gallup 15%.
Why? Dallas had a designated slot guy in Cole Beasley and they replaced him with a designated slot guy in Randall Cobb.
Beasley ran 90% of his routes out of the slot and Cobb and insane 93% in GB in 2018.
But modern offenses are changing that.
I expect MM too.
I think you'll see DAL use Cooper in the slot ~50% of the time. CeeDee also around 50%. --there will be over 100% to go around because formations will allow multiple slots on some plays.
Gallup likely stays outside as the designated WR2.
By going from Randall Cobb to Lamb to move form a guy who has trained solely as a slot to a guy who ran all 4 WR positions of the Air Raid, H(inside big/TE), Y(focal WR inside), X(lead outside WR), Z(Tall, outside big play guy)

This is exactly why I loved the CeeDee Lamb selection and would have HATED any other WR in round 1. Lamb has the ability day to play in a modern offense because they are air raid concepts that lend to slot domination.
This is also why many Air Raid teams had weak armed game readers.... No need to laser it when you are reading insider receivers being wide open 10-12 yards off the ball and inside the hashes.
BUT you take a Pat Mahomes and put him in that system and things.. CHANGE. Now your slinging it 50 air yards for fun. You are forcing teams to defend deep and play scared.
Baker Mayfield did this quite well. He is an assassin deep and very short but struggles in the old school median range. Baker killed teams with deep passes then underneath slots and crosses and WR screens of every sort.
Pat doesn't really struggle anywhere but in college had to score 50+ a week and had no OL. Tech needed him to be magic every drive so he made some mistakes on the way to the highest scoring offense virtually every year.
Dak also doesn't really struggle anywhere. He is definitely not Pat in his ease of flipping it out without form 35 yards, but he has great accuracy and arm strength on anything he gets his hips into. This is actually very much like Aikman.
Footwork was and is key for both as passers where accuracy and raw power merge.

So what might Dallas look like in 2020?
I think you'll see a varied passing attack that lines up Cooper and Lamb All Over the formation. X, Y, Z.
They can gameplan this weekly to attack defenses specific personnel and keep the looks changing on tape.

I can't remember being this excited about a Cowboys offense since the triplets ran their 5 plays taking what they wanted on the way to Super Bowls.

Good post.
 

kskboys

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Aikman is knowledgeable about the game and privy to the best minds in offense in today's game. He has always been a McC fan, going back to when he was an OC. He was the same way about Andy Reid.

I've always believed Troy would have loved to have played in the WCO and has an affinity for coaches from the Walsh tree.

His observation about WR's getting open goes back to when we'd see Jerry Rice get the ball. Usually, the announcer would say something like "how does that happen? Everyone in the stands and on the field knew the ball was going to him". It happens because great offensive minds were at work to get him free. That's what he's talking about.

One of the things I like about McC over the previous HC is his penchant for getting the matchups. He did that really well when he had a healthy WR corps in GB and made obscure players into household names. I think going in he thought he might have the best tandem he's had but when he saw Lamb falling into their lap, he had to be ecstatic. Only disappointing thing to McC is they'll still only let him use one ball.
Glad the wifey doesn't do that.
 

johneric8

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Watching Aikman A Football Life for the first time right now. Makes me cant stand Jones even more.

He made it no secret he quit because Jerry had no clue.

Ran Jimmy out of town too, among many other things...

Wasted a decade on his hand picked puppet and we are still counting the damn decades of futility.

Forget championships....they havent come CLOSE.

All I know if this MM thing had better work for Jerry as I'm not so sure how much more patience we ought to have.
Let's be honest brother, we ran out of patience a long long time ago! Most of us who are smart, have learned to have zero expectations at this point.
 

TwoCentPlain

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If you want the real answer just ask Romo if what Aikman said is true or not. Romo is calling plays out before they happen. Never saw Aikman do any of that.

I never considered Aikman a ‘student’ of the game. He was gifted one of the best teams ever and he played well. Take Aikman away from that and put him on a mediocre team and I think he would have been mediocre to pretty good, but nothing special.
 
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